Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, we had Cisco vibe wherever Zoom could be with Joe. Cisco takes the goggles off and we just stare at him, hoping that he got something. "Did you see my dad?" Iris asks Cisco, and by the looks of his face, I can tell he didn't. "No, the vibe keeps changing. It's like my brain keeps surfacing or something." Cisco says and I look down in guilt. "They must be on the move, that's why the vibe's in flux. Keep trying?" Caitlin asks him as he takes a seat by the computer. "This is my fault. I pushed Joe in." I say as I tighten my grip on my arms. "No, don't blame yourself, Tori. You did what you had to do. You got rid of Zoom." Iris says as she walks up to me. "Yeah, but in doing that, I gave Zoom leverage. I gave him your dad, Iris." I say, but she just sighs. "I don't blame you, Tori. My dad wouldn't blame you either. He would say that you did the right thing, and so am I." she says, and soon, Jesse and Harry walk into the Cortex. "Hey, did you turn off the Magnetar?" Caitlin asks Harry as we all looked at them. "No, there's no messing with that thing. Whatever he did to it, we try and touch it, we try and move it, this planet's done for." Harry says. Wally suddenly walks in and I widen my eyes as I shake Iris. "Iris." he calls out as he walks up to her and I move away from the two siblings. Wally looks at Iris confusingly as she gives him a sincere look, "What's wrong?" he asks her.
Iris walks up to Wally as we all looked at them with frowns. "Zoom took Dad." she says immediately getting to the point, not wanting to delay anything. "What? How?" he asks as he looks at all of us. "I accidentally pushed him in with my telekinesis." I say guiltily and he looks at me with furrowed brows. "We tried to stop Zoom by pushing him through the breach, but he took Joe with him. It wasn't just Tori." Caitlin says as she puts a hand on my shoulder. "Well, where's Barry? Did he go after him?" Wally asks and I look down as I felt tears on the brim of falling. "He's not with us. He's in a cell in the intake..." Jesse explains, but Harry clears his throat to signal to his daughter to be quiet. "Wait, you... You tried to stop Zoom alone? he asks us and I look at Iris as she looks at her brother guiltily also. "Long story." Harry says to him. Wally walks behind Iris and turns to look at us. "Well, we have to get him back." Wally says to us, but Iris walks up to him. "Wally, before Zoom took Dad, we all agreed that if we got him off this Earth, we would close the breaches for good, and we would never open them again, under any circumstances." Iris tells him. "Why would you do that?" Wally asks shakily and I felt my heart ache at the sight of him. "No. No way, that's not gonna happen." he says as I see tears in his eyes. "He made us all agree to it." Iris tells him with tears in her eyes. "Well, guess what? I didn't agree to that!" Wally says angrily and I tighten my grip on my arms again.
"Wally." Iris calls him, but he shakes his head.
"Iris, I already lost my mom. If Dad..." Wally's voice breaks and I just couldn't help but feel at fault.
Wally walks away from us and I look at Iris as I walk up to her and she turns to see Wally walk out. "I'm sorry." I say shakily, but she shakes her head. "Don't blame yourself. Don't be that way." she tells me and I nod slowly as I loosen my grip. I honestly still felt a bit guilty, but Iris is right. Joe would've said that I did the right thing. But, I know Wally wants his dad back. Iris, too, but Wally just barely got to know his dad, and he lost his mom, so the closest to a parent he could get is Joe. I understand Wally. I miss my mom, but with my dad around, we were close. So, it makes sense for Wally to want Joe back. He wants to be close to Joe as Iris is.
A few minutes later, we hear a beep and I look at the monitor. "Uh... Hey, guys, Barry's not--" Jesse was cut off as a gust of wind blows through my hair, and papers fly everywhere. Standing there was Barry with Wally and I widen my eyes as I looked at him. "In is cell anymore." she finishes saying. "Wally!" Iris yells at him as Barry and Wally turn to look at her. "Well, I wasn't just gonna stand here and let this happen." Wally says, but I just look at Barry. "You let him take Joe? What the hell were you thinking?" Barry asks Harry, but I walk up to him. "Barry, look we had a plan figured out. Joe was gonna shoot him with tranqs, but the gun got jammed. I threw my darts at Zoom and pushed him in, and Zoom took him." I say as he looks at me. "You wanna blame anyone, blame me." I say to him. "No. It's not your fault, alright." he says to me as he cups his hand on my cheek. "There was nothing we could do." Harry tells him and I look back at him. "You could've let me race him!" Barry yells as he wraps his arm around my waist. "Allen, you're not racing Zoom!" Harry tells him and I look at Barry with a frown. "What are you gonna do? Are you gonna get my girlfriend to tranq me again?" Barry says to him. "Don't tempt me." Harry says and I pull away from Barry. "Calm down!" I tell Barry and he looks at me with wide eyes. "Look, I know you guys made a pact to keep Zoom on Earth-2, but you did that without me and Wally. Alright? You don't get to do that!" he yells and I walk up to him. "Barry, look at yourself right now. You're not ok." I tell him and he looks at me.
"Tori, my dad was just killed in front of me! Do you have any idea how that feels?" he asks me angrily making me jump at his tone.
"Watching someone you love die? Yes I do." Caitlin says and I turn to look at her.
"Cait..." Barry starts to say, but she walks up to us.
"Look, Barry, I know how cold and angry and distant that can make you. But when this happened to me, you were the one who kept me in check. You told me to stop and take a breath. And that's all we're telling you to do now." she tells him.
"I'm telling you, I'm good."
"Really? You're good? Because it seems to me you wanna do more than stop Zoom." Harry says.
"Barry, I heard what you told Joe before I tranqed you. You want to kill Zoom. You want revenge on what Zoom did to your dad." I say and he looks away from me. "I know it hurts, Barry. It hurts me, too. I don't know how it feels to lose my dad, but I know how you feel right now. You're feeling lost, hurt, and angry." I tell him and he looks down, looking pissed. "Look at me. If that's why you're doing this, for revenge, you'll lose."
He looks into my brown eyes and he shakes his head. "Look, you guys, I... You may not think I can do this. You may think I'm too angry, but we're running out of time. I have to beat him, and I'm going to, whether I have your help, or not. So which one is it?" he asks as he looks at everyone, then at me. "Ok." I say and everyone looks at me. "I'll help you." I say and he gives me a small smile. "We're in, too." Cisco says and everyone nods. We make our way down to the Breach Room and Cisco puts on his headset. "So, how does this work?" Barry asks Cisco. "It's the same way we took Tori into the Speed Force. Harry does his best Frankenstein, you hold my hand, and I vibe you there." Cisco tells him and Barry nods. "Alright, let's do it." Barry says and he grabs Cisco's hand, then they vibe to Earth-2. We waited for them to get out of the vibe, and once they were, we looked at them. "It's on. We're racing." Barry says and I nod as I exhale deeply. Barry walks up to me and stares at me as I look at him. Everyone makes an excuse to leave us alone and I chuckle as I shake my head. Once we were alone, I look at Barry as he looks at me. "I'm sorry about earlier, Barry. I didn't want to see you like this." I say to him. "I know, Tori. I'm sorry for yelling at you." he says and I smile at him. "Promise me you'll be careful." I say to him and he wraps his arms around me. "I promise, Tori." he says and I nod. He leans in and kisses me passionately. He pulls away and presses his forehead against mine. "No matter what happens, I'll always love you." Barry says like it's probably the last time I'd see him. "Don't say it like that." I say and he smirks. "I love you, Barry." I say and he kisses me one more time before we leave.
*~*~
We arrive at the industrial park, we look around for Zoom carefully. "I tell you, Jay might be crazy pants, but he can pick a venue." Cisco says and I nod in agreement. We all look at large machine in front of us as we walked into the industrial park. We hear a zip behind us, and turn around to see Joe with Zoom. "Brought the whole crew with you, huh?" Zoom says and we all glare at him as Barry lets go of my hand, brushing past Iris and I. "Can't say I blame you." he says to him and I just glare at him. "Dad!" Wally calls out to Joe as he walks up in front of Barry. "Wally!" Iris calls him as she grabs his arm and pulls him back. "It's gonna be one hell of a show." Zoom says. "Let him go." Barry tells Zoom as he looks at him angrily. "After we race." Zoom tells Barry. "Cut the crap. We know you plan to power up the Magnetar so you can destroy the multi-verse." Harry says as he points his gun to Zoom. "Bravo, you've figured it out. Almost." Zoom says and we just all look at him. "I don't want to destroy all of it. This Earth is at the center of the multi-verse. It's the access point to every other Earth in existance. One trans-dimensional shockwave and... Poof." Zoom says. "Leaving just our Earth. How generous of you." Cisco says sarcastically. "Need to have some place to hang my cowl." he says, but I'm just not phased by him. "You might wanna say your goodbyes." he says, but we all stay silent.
Zoom speeds Joe away and I look at Barry as he turns to face us. "Don't worry, I'm gonna save your dad." Barry tells Iris as she looks at him with a frown. "No, you're gonna save our dad." Wally says to him and Barry nods. "Get back to S.T.A.R. Labs, it's safer." Barry says to us, but looks at me. "We're not going anywhere." Cisco tells him and I nod in agreement. "You got eyes and ears right here." he says and Barry nods. "Either he goes, or we all die together." Caitlin says, and he turns to look at Harry. "We believe in you." Harry tells him and Barry starts to walk away. "Wait." I say as I grab Barry's hand and he looks at me. "Kick his ass." I say and he nods. "I will. And I'll be back, I promise." he says and I nod.
Barry speeds over to Zoom and we watch from a safe distance. "What are the rules?" Barry asks Zoom as he stands a few feet away from him. "One lap around the inside of this loop will produce about one gigawatt of energy. And I need 500-plus to power the Magnetar enough to do the job. Once it's full, I win. Because there is no stopping it." Zoom says, but if I knew Barry, he would find a way to stop it. "So, all I have to do to beat you is stop you before that happens." Barry says. "Yep. It's that simple. But if at any point you decide you don't wanna race anymore, dear old Joe is a dead man. As well as your little fan club." Zoom says to Barry. "They're not my fan club, they're the reason that I'm running. Why I'm gonna beat you." Barry says and I smile at those words. "Let's see what you're made of, "Flash." Zoom says and both he and Barry put they're masks on. "Just say when, Zoom." Barry tells him as blue lightning sparks around Zoom. "Run, Barry. Run!" Zoom says and the two take off inside the loop as we walk a bit closer. We see both speedsters run around the loop, and soon, something happen with the Magnetar. "He's powering up the Magnetar." Harry says and I just watch the two. As they run, Barry seemed to be catching up to Zoom and I clench my hands into fists as I watched. "Come on, Barry, catch up." Cisco says as the Magnetar shoots a white beam into the sky.
Suddenly, a light appeared in the sky, and it grew bigger by the second. Then another Barry appeared in the loop, catching me by surprise. "Which one's Barry?" Jesse asks Harry the question I was thinking. "Both of them. He made a Time Remnant." Harry and Cisco say simultaneously. Barry speeds away from the Remnant and Zoom and frees Joe. I smile in relief as Joe runs over to us. Zoom tackles Barry and pins him to the ground as the Remnant continues to run around the loop. "A Remnant. Stole my trick, Flash." Zoom says and suddenly, the Magnetar sparks up. "But you're too late. Bye-bye multi-verse." Zoom says and Barry speeds him away from the machine as they start to fight. The Remnant the runs around the Magnetar and I look at him in confusion as to what he's doing. "What's the Time Remnant doing?" I ask aloud as we all watched him. "He's creating his own pulse." Cisco replies. "Why would he do that?" Jesse asks just as confused as I am. "Because if that's out of phase, it'll counteract that one." Harry explains. "Wait, his body can't handle that!" Caitlin says to Harry. "Then what's gonna happen?" I ask curiosly as I continued to watch the Remnant. "He'll die." Harry says. I see the Remnant's pulse counteracting the Magnetar's pulse and he suddenly disappears making the Magnetar stop pulsating.
"No!" I hear Zoom scream.
We turn to look at the two speedsters as they throw speed punches at each other, then speed around the industrial park. Barry throws him into a control panel, and punches him over and over. He then speeds Zoom over to the middle, throws him over his shoulder, and pins him down. He rips off part of Zoom's mask, then starts vibrating his hand, holding it over Zoom's heart just like Reverse-Flash would. "You're a hero, Barry. You couldn't kill me before. You won't kill me now." Zoom tells him as I watched Barry. Suddenly, we hear a screech and turn to see two Time Wraiths appear out of nowhere. "I don't have to." Barry says, then he moves out of the way letting the Time Wraiths go to Zoom. We watch as the Time Wraiths fly around Zoom, and we see his body deteriorate in front of our eyes. His outfit changes and he screeches as red lightning sparks around him now. The Time Wraiths grab Zoom, and take him with them somewhere and disappear. I dash over to Barry and embrace him tightly as he does the same. "You did it." I say happily as he holds me tightly. "Yeah." he says a bit zoned off.
*~*~*
After Barry defeated Zoom, he brought back the man that was trapped in the glass cell in Earth-2, and both Cisco and Harry were working on getting the mask off of him when we were back in S.T.A.R. Labs. Wally starts to ask Barry questions about what had just happened in the fight with Zoom. "Ok, so you ran back in time and made a copy of yourself?" Wally asks him. "Well, uh... Basically, yeah." Barry says and I smile at him. "It's called a Time Remnant." Jesse explains to Wally and he nods seeming to be confused still. "It's not something that I can do everyday, but I needed a way to draw the Time Wraiths out of the Speed Force, hoping they'd be more upset at what Zoom had done than they'd be mad at me." Barry says and Wally looks confused. "Is that what Tori and I look like when they start talking about science?" Joe asks and I chuckle. "Pretty much." Iris responds and we chuckle. "Don't worry, Wally, it'll get easier to understand." Joe says to his son. "Sometimes. Other times, they just say jibberish, or at least, that's what I say." I say to him with a shrug. "Well, how does that even work?" Wally asks Barry again. "Same way Zoom did it. I ran back in time moments before I left. It's the only way I can be in two places at once." Barry explains to Wally. "Ok, so, the Time Remnant, it's still you." Wally says and Barry nods. "But he died." Caitlin says to Barry and he nods. "He was willing to sacrafice himself for all of us." Barry says and I smile. "That's how much he loved us." I say and Barry looks at me with a small smile.
"You know what, we'll just... We'll forget about it. Uh, Barry, I'm glad you're ok." Wally says with a chuckle.
"You know what? In battle... choose your weapon wisely. Alright, some people chose a gun, I chose a Phillips head. Screwdriver" Harry says to Cisco and I just chuckle as I shake my head at both of them.
"Oh, I'm sorry, you're so particular--"
"Ramon, can you just, please! Have you ever worked with a tool before?"
"I'm working with one now." Cisco mutters and I laugh as Barry walks over to me and wraps his arms around my waist.
"Are you ready? One, two, and..."
The two turn a switch in the back of the mask, and the straps come off. "I don't know what's more annoying, being in that thing or listening to you two arguing about it." the man says and I widen my eyes as I stare at him with wide eyes. He was Henry's doppelganger. Barry's arms loosen around my waist as he stares at the man in front of us. "Um... You're..." Barry was about to say something, but doesn't go on to say it. "I'm Jay Garrick. The real Jay Garrick." he says and I put my hands over my mouth as I stare at him. I turn to look at Barry, seeing his shocked reaction and a sad look on his face. "What?" Jay asks and I turn to look back at him. "I'm sorry, I... I'm sorry." Barry says and he walks away. I look back at Joe and Iris, then at Jay. "I'll go talk to him." I say and I walk out of the Cortex to see Barry in the hallway crying. "Bar." I call him and he looks up to see me as I shove my hands in my back pockets. "He looks just like him. He looks just like my dad, Tori. I can't believe this. My dad told me..." Barry says as he stands up and walks over to me. "He told me this, he said his, his mom's maiden name was Garrick! I just never thought that that meant... I never thought that meant--" I cut Barry off from rambling on. "Hey, Bar. Bar. He doesn't know that." I say as I cup my hand on his cheek as he cries. "He doesn't know that he's your dad's doppelganger, ok? Do you want me to tell him that we have to go?" I ask him, but he shakes his head. "No. No." he says as he grabs my hand and rubs his thumb on the back of my hand. "Are you sure?" I ask him and he nods. "Yeah, I just need a minute. I'll be alright." he says and I nod slowly. "I'll be in the Cortex when you're ready." I say and I was about to walk away, when he held a tight grip on my hand.
"Can you stay with me?" he asks and I nod.
"Yeah." I say and he pulls me in, hugging me tightly. "I'll always stay with you, Bar."
After a few minutes, Barry and I walk into the Cortex and everyone looks at us. "He's alright." I tell everyone, besides Jay, telepathically. We see Jay walk out wearing his suit as Cisco and Harry were talking about something. "So, the reason you didn't have your powers is because there was a dampener in the mask. You see?" Cisco says to him as he points out the dampener. "I don't wanna see this thing ever again." Jay says and he vibrates his hand like how Barry does, and breaks the mask. "So, your powers are back." Cisco says and I shake my head as I roll my eyes. "I see, Jay, excuse me, Hunter, stole your color scheme, too." Joe tells Jay as he motions to Jay's suit. "He took a lot of things that were mine. Except for that. That's, um... That's all him." he says pointing to the helmet Hunter used. "He said it was his father's, from the war." Iris tells Jay as Harry examines the helmet. "Ironically, on my... On our Earth, this helmet stood for hope." Harry says. "Yeah?" Jay asks Harry as he looks at the helmet. "Yeah." Harry responds to him. "Maybe I can continue that sentiment. Take something from him for a change, make it my own." Jay says as he grabs the helmet and puts it on. "It suits you." Caitlin tells Jay and I nod in agreement.
"Thank you, all of you, for saving me with Zoom. Especially you, Flash." Jay tells Barry and I look at him as he looks at Jay with a bit of discomfort.
"You're welcome, Flash." Barry tells him.
Jay then tips his helmet at Barry, and Barry nods his head at Jay. "Now, all I have to do is find my way home." Jay tells Cisco. "And where's that?" Wally asks him curiously. "I think you would call it Earth-3." Jay responds, and Cisco narrows his eyes. "Uh-huh. Well, I can get you to Earth-2." Cisco says to Jay. "My daughter and I can help you with the rest." Harry says and Jesse looks at him in confusion. "We can?" she asks him and he nods with a smile. "Yes, we can. We're going home." Harry tells his daughter and she smiles at him. We all head to the Breach Room, and get everything prepared for Jesse, Harry, and Jay to leave. "Ok." Harry says as he and Jesse come down the steps with their backpacks strapped on their backs. "Snow, you're a tremendous scientist, but you're an even better person." Harry says and Caitlin smiles at him. "Don't make me cry, Harry. I've done enough of that already." she says as she hugs him. He walks over to Joe and smiles widely at him, "Detective Joe West." he says. "Harry." Joe says as they both shake hands. "You have great kids, you take care of them." Harry says to Joe, motioning to Wally and Iris. "Same to you. You take care of that beautiful girl." Joe says as he motions to Jesse and she blushes. "Yes, sir." Harry says, then he makes his way over to Barry and I. "Bye." Barry says to Harry as they shake hands and Harry does the same, but they then hug. "I'm a better man than I was when I got here, and it's 'cause of you." Harry tells Barry. "I'm not the same, either." Barry says to Harry and I smile at them. "Gomez. I'll miss you." he says to me and I smile as tears well up. "I'll miss you, too, Harry." I say as I hug him. We pull away and he walks over to Cisco.
Jesse walks up to us and she hugs Barry, saying her goodbye to him, then looks at me. "You were fun to hang out with, Jesse." I tell her and she nods. "You were fund to hang out with, too, Tori. I'll miss you." she says as she hugs me tightly. "I'll miss you, too. But I think a certain boy might miss you more." I say as I see Wally look at Jesse. She pulls back and looks at me with a blush. "You both couldn't be more obvious that you liked each other." I say and she chuckles. Jesse walks over to Iris and Wally, and she talks to Wally about her not texting him from another Earth, then they hug. "They're adorable, aren't they?" I ask Iris telepathically. "Totally adorable. They make a perfect match." she says and I nod in agreement. "Thank you, guys, seriously, for saving our home." Jesse says and I smile at her. "Ready?" Jay asks Harry and Jesse as he puts his helmet on. He holds onto them and Cisco puts his goggles on to open a breach to Earth-2. We move out of the way as the breach opens, then they head into the breach and are gone. Cisco closes the breach and I look at Barry as he exhales. "You ok?" I ask him and he nods.
*~*~
We were at the West house with everyone, including my dad, to celebrate that we just beat Zoom. But I knew Barry wasn't really in a celebratory mood. I see him walk out of the house without anyone noticing. I stand up from my seat next to Iris, and walk out. I see Barry sitting on the porch looking sad, and he turns to see me. I sit next to him and lean against the post as I look at him. "Can't stop thinking about my dad's doppelganger, seeing him, knowing that he's out there, that should've made it easier. Doesn't." Barry says to me. "Just made me miss him even more." he says and I scoot a bit closer to him. "I can't even imagine how hard that must've been." I say as I put my hand on his. "We just won. We just beat Zoom. Why does it feel like I just lost?" he asks me. "Because you lost a lot in your life, Barry, more than most." I say to him and he leans his head back. "You know, I'm always here for you, Barry. I'll never leave you, because you're my one and only." I say and he smiles at me. "I've always wanted to hear you say that. But I feel so hollowed out inside right now. I feel more broken than I've ever felt in my life." Barry says to me and I nod. "I know." I say as I feel a tear roll down my cheek and he leans in closer to me as he cups his hand on my cheek, and wipes the tear away. "I love you, Tori. But, I need to fix what's wrong with me. I need to find some... Some peace." he says and I nod. "I understand. I love you, Barry. You and I were there for each other all the time. Wherever you need to go, whatever you need to do, do it. And when you get back, I'll be here, like always." I say and he smiles. "I love you." I say to him and he leans in, and kisses me passionately. "I love you, too. And I always will." he says making me smile. I kiss him one last time, then head inside expecting everything to be alright.
But little did I know, that Barry would do something that he'd regret when he had already done it, and change so many things in the process.
It's done!!! Season 2 is done!!! But I still have season 3 to go through. Another 23 episodes to write about. Yay!!! But now that this book is complete, I hope you liked this story. And get ready for book 3!!! Thanks for reading!!! - Marissa